WEBVTT
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Hey, y 'all. I'm Carrie. Hey, y 'all. I'm Mandy.
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And this is Monstrous. This episode contains
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topics and language that may not be suitable
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for all listeners and topics that may be triggering
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for some. Listener discretion is advised. Mandy.
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Yes. Are you ready for one hell of a story about
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an extraordinary woman? Let's do it. So the one
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I've chosen for this week's Woman's History Month
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episode, she didn't create new laws or blaze
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a trail in a career for women to follow. But
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she did refuse to settle for an ordinary, boring
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life or the basics. This woman lived a life of
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crime that started from the 1960s all the way
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to 2017 when she was 87 years old. Damn. This
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is the story of the globe -trotting, notorious
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jewel thief, Doris Payne. Doris Payne, for me,
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is someone who manipulates people. That's her
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job. If you know the jewelry robbery world, she
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certainly would be in the Hall of Fame. Payne
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admits to stealing expensive diamonds from all
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around the world, including Paris, Monaco, and
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Tokyo. A notorious jewel thief struck again.
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She's so famous, her life story is about to become
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a movie starring Halle Berry. Doris is a protagonist
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and the antagonist in the screenplay that Doris
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Payne writes herself every day. Because I'm prepared
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to go on a campaign. I'm prepared. play the part
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of somebody else. I'd taken a ten and a half
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carry out of Monte Carlo. In Cartier? Wow. There's
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never been a day that I went to steal that I
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did not get what I went to do. When I go shopping
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with Doris, I tell her, if you take anything,
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let me know, and I'd say, put that back. She
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sees something she wants, she will go and get
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it. I just want you to watch what the jury is
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going to see. They want you to speak guilty to
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burglary. Take three years and stay present.
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Absolutely. This is a matter of people versus
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Doris Payne. I don't know exactly what I'm going
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to do right now to be persuaded. I don't have
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any regrets about stealing jewelry. I'm great
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at cook. Doris Payne was born in October of 1930
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in Slab Fork, West Virginia. This town was a
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big mining town, as most towns in that area were
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at the time. It being the 1930s, things were
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tough. But for Doris, it was even harder. Her
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father was black and her mother was a member
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of the Cherokee Nation. So we have the whole
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racist aspect going on. That definitely had an
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impact on Doris's life. She was the second youngest
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of six. She described her and her siblings as
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stair -step children, by which she meant that
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the age gap between each of them was about the
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same. Her father was a coal miner, of course,
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and... He was said to be pretty abusive to her
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mom, sometimes even violently beating her. Doris
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said about this, quote, It wasn't an everyday
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thing that my father beat my mother, but she
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was a prisoner. He didn't want her talking to
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any men, and he didn't want her talking and gossiping
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with other women. She further said, quote, So
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growing up, seeing this, Doris was determined
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to make sure that her life was not going to be
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isolated by a man. Which I feel like we can all
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get that. Yes. But what exactly was it that led
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Doris to become a jewel thief? Well, Doris was
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said to be a very bright and good student. And
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when she was 13, her mother had told her as a
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reward for getting straight A's that she was
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going to buy her a watch. So, Doris took her
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money and went down to a little general store
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in her town. Doris knew the owner, of course.
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And so, he shows her all the watches that he
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has. And, you know, he's nice to her. He always
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is. But then, another customer comes into the
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store. A white customer. This person begins to,
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you know, give Doris looks and treat her poorly.
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Even ignoring her. Practically. Ignoring her,
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just giving her, you know, dirty looks because
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she's not just a little kid. Anyway. So, of course,
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she gets really upset because she's only 13.
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The store owner does not comfort her. He doesn't
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defend her. Instead, he tries to hustle her out
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of the store. And in doing so, he forgets that
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Doris was wearing one of the watches that he
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had been showing her. Oh, shit. But she doesn't
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take it. She walks back into the store kind of
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like a fuck you kind of way. And tells the owner,
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you know, by the way, you forgot your watch.
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Kind of telling him, hey, you know, I could have
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just taken this. But instead I brought it back
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despite the way that you treated me. Right. So
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even though it was kind of a fuck you to the
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owner, because his behavior really hurt her.
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Because before this, the two had had a close
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relationship. She felt betrayed. She takes it
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further by describing this as the thing that
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had made her decision to, quote, go to war with
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jewelry salesmen. This one event is where things
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changed for Doris. So first she has to make sure
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that she can accomplish what she did by mistake
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on purpose. So she and a friend takes a bus to
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Cleveland and walks into Woolworths. Doris starts
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looking and trying on watches, makes friendly
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conversation with the salesman until he's forgotten
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how many watches he's taken out and let her try
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on. Then she and her friend walk off with a watch
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hidden inside of her glove. Since she's just
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testing things out and seeing how she can do
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it, she turns around and returns the watch. The
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man at the counter thanks her and the two girls
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leave. In her autobiography, Doris says, quote,
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When we got to the street, we ran and cackled
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like two witches who had stolen the heart out
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of the chest of the king's firstborn son. We
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were as high as we could be. We were secretly
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in control of the white man. Damn. Right? And
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this is exactly where Doris is going to get her
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power from. So we're going to skip forward to
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Doris and her teens. The abuse that her father
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gives her mother has now become more and more
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violent. Knowing that in order for her mother
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to escape her father, she needs money. And so
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Doris leans into her success as a jewel thief
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and steals a diamond that she then pawns and
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gives her mother the money. Together, Doris and
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her mother move to Cleveland while her father
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stays behind in Slab Fort. Doris then goes on
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to have two children, one at 18 and another at
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22. Unfortunately, though, their father had took
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custody and it doesn't really seem like Doris
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was really a part of their life until they were
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older for some reason. Doris's mother is a very
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talented seamstress, so she finds work doing
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this, while Doris finds work as a nurse in a
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nursing home there in Cleveland. They both find
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better lives and basically reinvent themselves
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there. A few years later, in the late 1950s,
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she isn't really stealing anything unless it's
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out of necessity. But one of her co -workers
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confides in her that her mother is in need of
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medication and she can't afford to pay for it.
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Doris comes up with a plan. On one of their lunch
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breaks, she and her friend go to a department
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store. Doris dresses her friend, who is white,
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in a beautiful dress that Doris' mother made,
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while she herself stays in her nursing uniform.
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She tells her friend to, quote, slump over a
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bit like one of those wavy Victorian heiresses.
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The way she talks, I love it. They tell the clerk
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that Doris' friend will soon be engaged and they're
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there to go ring shopping and that Doris is her
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nurse. Okay, so basically Doris' storyline is
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that her friend is an ill heiress who is set
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to marry a man who is no doubt only after her
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family's money, and it works. While the salesman
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is distracted, Doris slips a diamond wedding
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ring set into her pocket. The friend then swoons
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over, and Doris is all, oh my, she isn't feeling
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well, I've got to get her out of here. We'll
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just come back another day, and then they walk
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out of the store. Doris then pawns the ring set
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for $1 ,500. In today's money, that would be
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about $19 ,643. Oh, shit. She then gives her
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friend the money that she needs for her mother's
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medication. And Doris uses some of the profits
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to buy herself a new expensive handbag and a
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different diamond ring. So now, Doris looks like
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a wealthy married woman who has all the time
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in the world to walk around shopping in jewelry
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shops. And no one questions why she's there or
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even bats an eye at her. So basically, she used
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the money from her last step to create the costume
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so that way she didn't have to depend on anyone
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to pull this off. Then she quits her job at the
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nursing home. Now is when she hones in on her
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technique. So her method is this. First, she
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researches the piece that she wants. She does
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this by looking at ads in magazines like, you
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know, Town and Country, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue,
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you know, all those. So she never walks into
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a jewelry store not knowing what she's going
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to take. This gives her an idea of how she should
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dress and act as well. She stakes out department
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stores and watches how the wealthy woman dress
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and act in order to match that persona. Doris
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said, quote, when I'm preparing to go on a campaign.
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I'm preparing to play the part of someone else.
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I'm camouflaging myself. You have to look your
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part. You have to look like you belong. I have
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to behave so well -bred that they would have
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no idea who I am. I'm sure that they don't see
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me as a Black American woman who just walked
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in. Once Doris feels like she's ready, she walks
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into the store, asks the clerk to view multiple
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pieces. Once each of the pieces are pulled out,
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Doris moves them around and tries them on. And
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she talks and asks questions about each one of
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the pieces, all of that. She's doing the whole
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like, look over here and not here thing. Kind
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of like the cup trick. You put something in a
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cup, you move it around. She's doing that whole
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thing. So she moves it all around, asks questions,
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distracts the clerk. So that way they can't remember
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exactly how many pieces were taken out to begin
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with. While the clerk is distracted, Doris takes
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a piece of the jewelry. Then once the clerk has
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refocused on her and what's going on, she's all
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like, oh no, where'd the other, you know, the
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other piece go? So then of course they start
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looking for it. And Doris is like, oh, here it
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is. Hands it to the clerk as if she had just
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found it. The clerk thanks her. He's grateful.
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And now believes that Doris is an honest and
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trustworthy woman. This causes the clerk to then
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relax and become friendlier and less uptight.
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This is when Doris takes the piece that she needs.
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actually want she's smart so doris does it in
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a way that the clerk is going you know because
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he's like oh well she found this missing piece
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why would she then turn around and steal another
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one you know so she also knew that she couldn't
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keep selling her stolen jewelry to pawn shops
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because they could only give her so much she
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would not get top dollar for her stolen bounty
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so through word of mouth doris had gotten in
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contact with a broker named harold braunfeld
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Harold was a Jewish nightclub owner known to
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everyone as Babe. He had connections in the jewelry
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industry and throughout the 60s, he and Doris
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were a team. She stole the pieces and he sold
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them. Using Babe's connections to actual jewel
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buyers, Doris was able to get top dollar for
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her pieces. Babe also advised Doris to not take
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anything that was too valuable because that would
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cause the piece to become too hot of an item
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to sell. The years that Doris spent working with
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Babe were both informative and very profitable.
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So sometime during their partnership, Doris headed
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out to L .A. Babe spent that time flying to L
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.A. to collect the items from Doris that she
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had stolen, then flying back to Cleveland to
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sell those pieces. So while in L .A., Doris got
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her hands on some pretty pricey pieces. One day,
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she visits a Rodeo Drive boutique where she steals
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two diamond rings. which at the time were worth
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$20 ,000. Wow. Today, those rings would be worth
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about $213 ,000. Holy shit. Could you imagine
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that much money just basically being handed to
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you? That's insane. And then remember, Babe had
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told Doris not to take anything too valuable,
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so those two rings weren't even the most expensive
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pieces. Right. So Doris does eventually return
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to Cleveland. And when she does, she sold everything
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she had stolen in L .A. to an amount that she
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was able to afford to buy a home in the pretty
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high -priced suburb area of Shaker Heights, which
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is in Cleveland. It's basically like a suburb
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inside Cleveland. The home cost was the exact
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amount that she had gotten from those two rings
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in L .A. alone. Wow. She didn't want to advertise
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that she had that kind of money. for obvious
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reasons. Yeah. So she got a normal mortgage,
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but for Doris, who was a black woman in the 90s,
00:14:59.169 --> 00:15:03.289
this wasn't an easy thing to accomplish. In the
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end, Doris, again, had sought out the help of
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her partner, Babe, who had actually sold some
00:15:08.070 --> 00:15:12.629
of Doris' pieces to a bank manager. So I'm not
00:15:12.629 --> 00:15:16.490
exactly sure what Babe does or does not say to
00:15:16.490 --> 00:15:18.490
this bank manager, because obviously, who's going
00:15:18.490 --> 00:15:21.779
to admit to a bribe? Mm -hmm. But after whatever
00:15:21.779 --> 00:15:24.600
they did or did not do, this guy approves Doris
00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:27.340
for a mortgage. It's kind of one of those, you
00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:30.360
know, friends in high places things. So what
00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:32.919
I haven't told you yet is that Doris up to this
00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:36.279
point has been arrested a few times. But like
00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:38.519
the rest of her life, throughout the rest of
00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:42.460
her story, her charges are either dropped or
00:15:42.460 --> 00:15:44.779
she's given short sentences. Because even though
00:15:44.779 --> 00:15:49.580
they know she's the thief, not one time at all.
00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:55.259
Does any authority find any stolen diamonds on
00:15:55.259 --> 00:15:59.639
Doris? How do they not find it? I will tell you
00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:02.100
about one case where they don't find it. Here
00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:06.100
in just a little bit. Okay. Okay. So at some
00:16:06.100 --> 00:16:08.440
point, Doris went on to meet a man named Kenneth.
00:16:08.659 --> 00:16:11.440
And the two were immediately smitten with each
00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:13.840
other. And they began a serious relationship.
00:16:14.019 --> 00:16:17.580
This new relationship had caused the one between
00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:21.539
Doris and Babe with sour. He had apparently become
00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:24.480
very jealous, even though he was married to a
00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:27.960
woman that was not Doris. So I don't know if
00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:29.279
there was something going on between the two
00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:32.360
of them or not. But for whatever reason, he ended
00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:36.159
up jealous and they kind of cut ties. And then
00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:39.120
shortly after that, they dies. Doris and Kenneth
00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:42.539
go on to have a long term relationship. Kenneth
00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:45.059
is very much aware of the life that Doris leads,
00:16:45.139 --> 00:16:48.840
but he never got involved in it in any way. He
00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:50.480
just kind of waits for her to come back to Cleveland
00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:53.399
while she goes and travels the country and eventually
00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:57.940
the world. So as a side note here, I love this.
00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:02.179
Love it. So the trips that Doris goes on when
00:17:02.179 --> 00:17:04.259
she sells these jewels, they can really be called
00:17:04.259 --> 00:17:06.480
anything, but most people call them jobs, right?
00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:15.779
Doris calls hers her campaigns. I love that so
00:17:15.779 --> 00:17:22.880
much. Her campaigns. Yeah. Okay, so by the early
00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:29.039
70s, Doris is about 40, and the jig is up. The
00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:31.859
Jewelers Security Alliance, which is a trade
00:17:31.859 --> 00:17:35.039
group, is now on to Doris and sends out a bulletin
00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:38.400
to be on the lookout to other jewelers that gives
00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:43.000
a description of Doris and tells them of her
00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:45.920
technique. So Doris decides here that it's time
00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:49.210
for her to see Europe. So she hits the road.
00:17:50.849 --> 00:17:54.250
So one would think that Doris, now in her 40s
00:17:54.250 --> 00:17:56.069
and having to leave her country, she would give
00:17:56.069 --> 00:17:59.710
up her life of crime for her jolly ways to rest
00:17:59.710 --> 00:18:02.630
and live a normal, quiet life, right? You would
00:18:02.630 --> 00:18:06.230
think. Well, that one would be wrong. On one
00:18:06.230 --> 00:18:09.430
campaign in Europe, Doris had, quote, a field
00:18:09.430 --> 00:18:12.990
day in a jewelry store in Zurich. Then she went
00:18:12.990 --> 00:18:16.250
back to her hotel where she laid low until night
00:18:16.250 --> 00:18:18.769
fell. She's getting ready to cross the border
00:18:18.769 --> 00:18:22.190
into France, but she first decides she's going
00:18:22.190 --> 00:18:28.710
to go dancing. So she's out here, you know, dancing,
00:18:28.769 --> 00:18:30.549
having a good old time at this nightclub, right?
00:18:31.509 --> 00:18:34.809
What Doris doesn't know is that while she's out
00:18:34.809 --> 00:18:37.849
here enjoying herself, this nightclub has cameras.
00:18:38.630 --> 00:18:41.930
Cameras that are being broadcast onto Swiss TV.
00:18:45.900 --> 00:18:49.279
So last call rolls around. The lights come on.
00:18:49.859 --> 00:18:53.059
Police have filled the nightclub there to arrest
00:18:53.059 --> 00:18:58.500
Doris. Someone had seen and identified her. But
00:18:58.500 --> 00:19:01.859
it wasn't just anyone. Sitting at home with his
00:19:01.859 --> 00:19:04.059
wife, watching the club on TV was a policeman.
00:19:04.220 --> 00:19:06.259
Like, first of all, who the fuck just sits at
00:19:06.259 --> 00:19:10.579
home watching people dance in a nightclub live
00:19:10.579 --> 00:19:19.369
feed? For fun. Who does that? Okay, anyway. Sitting
00:19:19.369 --> 00:19:21.230
at home with his wife, watching the club on TV
00:19:21.230 --> 00:19:24.069
was a policeman who was working the jewelry store
00:19:24.069 --> 00:19:26.849
robbery case. And who did he see come across
00:19:26.849 --> 00:19:30.089
his TV screen? None other than the woman they
00:19:30.089 --> 00:19:33.650
were looking for, Doris Payne herself. Even if
00:19:33.650 --> 00:19:36.410
they didn't yet know her name. According to Doris,
00:19:36.410 --> 00:19:38.390
the police then put her on a train to Geneva,
00:19:38.589 --> 00:19:40.809
where more policemen were waiting for her to
00:19:40.809 --> 00:19:45.029
arrive. Okay. So they put Doris on this train
00:19:45.029 --> 00:19:49.210
by herself to Geneva. No policemen escorted her.
00:19:49.750 --> 00:19:52.029
They did this because the train was supposed
00:19:52.029 --> 00:19:56.430
to be a non -stop train straight to Geneva. But
00:19:56.430 --> 00:19:59.130
the train did stop briefly to load some water.
00:19:59.369 --> 00:20:03.609
And what does Doris do? She escapes. She nopes
00:20:03.609 --> 00:20:07.150
right the fuck out of there. She jumps right
00:20:07.150 --> 00:20:10.490
out of the train window. She jumps out of the
00:20:10.490 --> 00:20:13.150
train window. Runs through farmland and woods.
00:20:13.369 --> 00:20:15.970
Then flags down a car and hitches a ride out
00:20:15.970 --> 00:20:18.509
of Switzerland. Like, this fucking lady is iconic,
00:20:18.809 --> 00:20:22.789
dude. She really is. I want to be her when I
00:20:22.789 --> 00:20:29.650
grow up. No. Okay, so, of course, everyone, you
00:20:29.650 --> 00:20:32.750
know, don't go out and be a jewel thief. But
00:20:32.750 --> 00:20:35.990
if you're gonna do it, do it like Doris did it.
00:20:36.049 --> 00:20:38.490
Because this lady went on the fucking adventure
00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:41.759
of a lifetime. And we're nowhere even near done
00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:45.559
with her story. Like we need better role models.
00:20:45.619 --> 00:20:49.660
Okay. For sure. I'm no exception on that, but
00:20:49.660 --> 00:20:53.819
I feel like she's my new role model. Yeah. She's
00:20:53.819 --> 00:21:00.839
good. Okay. Anyway. So now we're in 1974 and
00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:04.099
Doris is in Monte Carlo. She's now 44 years old
00:21:04.099 --> 00:21:09.369
and she's in her prime. She's checked into the
00:21:09.369 --> 00:21:12.869
Hotel de Paris, where she had told people that
00:21:12.869 --> 00:21:15.589
she was the wife of the famous director Otto
00:21:15.589 --> 00:21:19.750
Preminger. This guy was married, but his wife
00:21:19.750 --> 00:21:23.430
wasn't famous. So this lie was easy for her to
00:21:23.430 --> 00:21:26.329
pull off because no one knew who this guy's wife
00:21:26.329 --> 00:21:29.730
was. So as normal, she dresses to fit the part.
00:21:29.829 --> 00:21:33.509
She walks into a Cartier store. She sits down
00:21:33.509 --> 00:21:36.190
with a salesman. He brings out a large section
00:21:36.190 --> 00:21:39.670
of rings all displayed on a velvet tray. So you
00:21:39.670 --> 00:21:42.210
know this place is fancy. This salesman then
00:21:42.210 --> 00:21:45.609
walks away to greet other customers. Doris stands
00:21:45.609 --> 00:21:49.049
up. She walks out of the store with a ring in
00:21:49.049 --> 00:21:52.210
her hand. Doris has just completed the biggest
00:21:52.210 --> 00:21:54.769
heist of her career. Are you ready to hear the
00:21:54.769 --> 00:21:57.869
size and the price of this ring? Let me hear
00:21:57.869 --> 00:22:02.089
it. She walked out of that store with a ten and
00:22:02.089 --> 00:22:06.480
a half carat diamond ring. with a price tag of
00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:13.940
$550 ,000. Oh my God. Today, that ring would
00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:23.819
be $3 ,520 ,948. Could you imagine? She walked
00:22:23.819 --> 00:22:26.460
out of that fucking jewelry store in Monte Carlo
00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:31.640
with a $3 .5 million ring. That's fucking insane.
00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:34.619
That's crazy. I cannot tell you what the fuck
00:22:34.619 --> 00:22:36.740
I would do with that amount of money. Right?
00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:42.180
I would be good. My house. I wouldn't have a
00:22:42.180 --> 00:22:49.079
mortgage. Right. Okay. So, like I said before,
00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:51.900
this was the biggest heist Doris had ever pulled
00:22:51.900 --> 00:22:55.220
off. And once she took the ring, she didn't realize
00:22:55.220 --> 00:22:58.859
just how much it was. She just took it. Doris
00:22:58.859 --> 00:23:00.940
later said in an interview that once she learned
00:23:00.940 --> 00:23:03.900
the value of that ring, she knew that she shouldn't
00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:08.460
have taken it. But the value of that ring was
00:23:08.460 --> 00:23:11.440
not her only mistake. She had made three other
00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:14.920
mistakes that day. Her first was she took the
00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:17.059
ring when there was only one other person in
00:23:17.059 --> 00:23:19.920
the store. So it's very obvious that she's the
00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:24.000
one that took it. Right. Her second. mistake
00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:26.279
was that she didn't change clothes before she
00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:29.440
left her hotel for the airport, which would have
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:33.759
made finding her harder. And her last mistake
00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.119
was that instead of taking the first available
00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:39.099
flight out of the country, she waited for a flight
00:23:39.099 --> 00:23:42.640
to New York. So while Doris is sitting at the
00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:44.740
airport waiting for her flight, she's approached
00:23:44.740 --> 00:23:47.339
by custom agents who want to search her for the
00:23:47.339 --> 00:23:52.109
ring. All right, girl. are you ready for something
00:23:52.109 --> 00:23:56.190
straight out of a fucking movie? Yes. And it,
00:23:56.230 --> 00:23:59.349
like, it does not seem real at all, but I promise
00:23:59.349 --> 00:24:02.029
you it is. So this massive ring is in the pocket
00:24:02.029 --> 00:24:04.190
of her coat when these agents approach her, right?
00:24:04.430 --> 00:24:07.529
Mm -hmm. She gets up and she follows them towards
00:24:07.529 --> 00:24:10.750
a room. While on the way, she grabs a tissue,
00:24:10.910 --> 00:24:14.450
puts her hands inside her pockets, and puts the
00:24:14.450 --> 00:24:18.369
ring inside the tissue. Smart. Then she holds
00:24:18.369 --> 00:24:21.079
the tissue up to her face. blows her nose which
00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:24.539
is when she slips the ring into her mouth they
00:24:24.539 --> 00:24:27.519
get to a private room the police frisk her and
00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:29.779
they don't find the ring anywhere doris goes
00:24:29.779 --> 00:24:31.980
into a coughing fit covering her mouth naturally
00:24:31.980 --> 00:24:35.000
she then placed the used tissue into her boot
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:37.079
because where else is she gonna put it right
00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:40.259
they know that doris sold the ring but they can't
00:24:40.259 --> 00:24:43.819
find it they arrest her anyway And since there's
00:24:43.819 --> 00:24:45.859
no women's jail in Monte Carlo, they take her
00:24:45.859 --> 00:24:48.500
to a hotel that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:51.500
While she waits for her legal proceedings to
00:24:51.500 --> 00:24:54.140
begin, she then asks one of the guards outside
00:24:54.140 --> 00:24:56.039
of her room for a pair of nail clippers and a
00:24:56.039 --> 00:24:59.859
sewing kit, which they bring to her. So why the
00:24:59.859 --> 00:25:01.819
fuck does she need this stuff? And where the
00:25:01.819 --> 00:25:05.299
hell is the ring? It's a ten and a half carat
00:25:05.299 --> 00:25:07.019
ring. What the fuck did she do with it, right?
00:25:08.779 --> 00:25:11.319
Once she's in the room and she has her nail clippers
00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:13.940
and sewing kit, she reaches into her boot, pulls
00:25:13.940 --> 00:25:17.000
out the used tissue, which contains the ring.
00:25:17.500 --> 00:25:19.859
Doris uses the clippers to remove the diamond
00:25:19.859 --> 00:25:22.519
from the ring setting. Once the diamond is out,
00:25:22.579 --> 00:25:25.240
she steps out onto the balcony and throws the
00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:28.660
setting into the seat. Then she sews the diamond
00:25:28.660 --> 00:25:31.460
into her girdle. Doris wears this girdle for
00:25:31.460 --> 00:25:34.039
months. Even after it's been washed and it's
00:25:34.039 --> 00:25:36.700
wet, she wears it. Like, she ain't taking no
00:25:36.700 --> 00:25:41.420
chances on losing this fucking ring. Right. Police
00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:44.539
never find the diamond. That's insane. That's
00:25:44.539 --> 00:25:48.079
crazy. Despite this, Doris is convicted and sentenced
00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.680
to three years. She's held in a low -security
00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:53.299
prison, which she later said was more like a
00:25:53.299 --> 00:25:58.200
bed and breakfast than it was a prison. This
00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:02.180
prison was located in the hills of Monaco. So
00:26:02.180 --> 00:26:03.880
even though this sounds like someone's dream
00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:06.559
vacation, minus the, you know, not being allowed
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:10.400
to leave part. Doris takes the first opportunity
00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:13.180
she gets to escape. After about nine months,
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:17.519
Doris fakes a stomach virus that gets her a trip
00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:19.940
to a nearby hospital. At the hospital, she keeps
00:26:19.940 --> 00:26:22.960
up the act and then a kind of nun sent her to
00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:25.279
the bathroom where she jumps out of the fucking
00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:32.019
window. She gets into a cab. goes to France,
00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:34.480
gets a fake passport, and flies to New York.
00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:37.140
She gets back to New York, finds a buyer for
00:26:37.140 --> 00:26:39.960
the diamond that she stole in Monte Carlo on
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:44.740
47th Street. This buyer paid her $150 ,000 for
00:26:44.740 --> 00:26:50.660
the diamond, which is around $879 ,939 today.
00:26:50.839 --> 00:26:52.900
And remember, this is just the diamond, not the
00:26:52.900 --> 00:26:55.059
setting, because she threw it in the ocean. Right.
00:26:56.839 --> 00:27:00.470
She's smart. Right. So over the next two decades,
00:27:00.809 --> 00:27:04.349
Doris would go on to be arrested many times in
00:27:04.349 --> 00:27:07.150
both the U .S. and other countries, including
00:27:07.150 --> 00:27:13.190
Greece, France, Britain, Switzerland. But she
00:27:13.190 --> 00:27:16.289
gets away with more campaigns than she has caught.
00:27:16.970 --> 00:27:19.589
And she's never caught with what she was accused
00:27:19.589 --> 00:27:22.190
of stealing. Not one time. Because they don't
00:27:22.190 --> 00:27:27.470
check her. They have her Google. Or her mouth.
00:27:28.059 --> 00:27:32.119
Right. She often travels under an alias with
00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:36.359
fake passports. She once traveled to Tokyo, stealing
00:27:36.359 --> 00:27:40.920
jewelry from a Cartier store. Then while in her
00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:44.420
50s, she heads to Athens, where she steals from
00:27:44.420 --> 00:27:47.740
smaller shops in the tourist district. And then
00:27:47.740 --> 00:27:52.710
she sells what she's stolen in Amsterdam. Doris
00:27:52.710 --> 00:27:55.049
goes on to be arrested about 20 times in countries
00:27:55.049 --> 00:27:57.829
outside the U .S., using fake names and aliases
00:27:57.829 --> 00:28:01.309
to get around, like I said. So when Doris is
00:28:01.309 --> 00:28:04.450
52, she was again arrested in San Francisco this
00:28:04.450 --> 00:28:07.549
time. And it turns out she was wanted in multiple
00:28:07.549 --> 00:28:11.049
states and even wanted for federal charges. Oh,
00:28:11.049 --> 00:28:16.829
shit. Damn. She's brought to Fort Worth, Texas.
00:28:17.259 --> 00:28:20.400
Where she escapes from U .S. Marshals in a similar
00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:24.339
way to how she escaped a Monte Carlo. By first
00:28:24.339 --> 00:28:26.680
being admitted to a hospital and then simply
00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:32.039
walking out. U .S. Marshals weren't too bright,
00:28:32.140 --> 00:28:38.259
were they? Damn, she's smart as hell. Doris was
00:28:38.259 --> 00:28:40.240
a very beautiful woman. Like, she really was.
00:28:40.359 --> 00:28:43.869
And I think that threw everyone off. Yeah. Because,
00:28:43.869 --> 00:28:45.890
you know, how could such a beautiful woman in
00:28:45.890 --> 00:28:48.930
her prime do all of these horrible things? Right.
00:28:49.549 --> 00:28:52.470
And the older Doris got, in my opinion, the more
00:28:52.470 --> 00:28:56.369
beautiful she got because her hair turns white,
00:28:56.490 --> 00:28:59.589
not gray. You know, she's a very she's petite.
00:29:01.609 --> 00:29:04.329
So over time, she became a beautiful, dignified
00:29:04.329 --> 00:29:08.549
and well -spoken woman. Right. So, like I said,
00:29:08.609 --> 00:29:10.230
it's one of those things where people are like,
00:29:10.349 --> 00:29:12.380
there's no way. She could never do that. You
00:29:12.380 --> 00:29:16.200
know, look at her. So at the time that she walks
00:29:16.200 --> 00:29:18.519
away from her arrest in Fort Worth, she was also
00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.619
wanted for questioning in Geneva in connection
00:29:21.619 --> 00:29:24.500
with the disappearance of an emerald, which in
00:29:24.500 --> 00:29:33.500
1982 was worth 90 ,000 Swiss francs or 182 ,724
00:29:33.500 --> 00:29:40.299
U .S. dollars, which would amount. to $597 ,602
00:29:40.299 --> 00:29:46.880
today. Damn. As always, after this escape, Doris
00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.299
returned to Cleveland, where her mom and her
00:29:49.299 --> 00:29:53.799
boyfriend, Kenneth, were. Tragedy would strike
00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:57.579
Doris. She lost her mom, Kenneth, and then her
00:29:57.579 --> 00:30:01.559
best friend to cancer. And this all set off a
00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:04.759
very intense 13 -year spree of thefts for her.
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:08.400
She racks up more arrests and does more short
00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:10.599
stints in jail with more parole and probation
00:30:10.599 --> 00:30:16.160
violations as well. In 1998, Doris is 77 years
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:19.720
old. She's older than Mama Annette Debbie at
00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:22.460
this point, okay? Like, she's almost as old as
00:30:22.460 --> 00:30:27.700
my great -grandma. Like, can you imagine? So,
00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:30.339
like, picture Mama a decade older out here just
00:30:30.339 --> 00:30:36.819
doing this shit. Right. It's great. So she goes
00:30:36.819 --> 00:30:39.599
flipping through an issue of Harbors Bazaar,
00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:42.500
which is a magazine. She sees an ad for a large
00:30:42.500 --> 00:30:46.079
square cut diamond, which is located at Neiman
00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:49.460
Marcus Mall in Denver. And she says, quote, I
00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:54.460
was on a plane before you could say boo. I love
00:30:54.460 --> 00:30:59.619
this woman so much. Doris walks out of the store
00:30:59.619 --> 00:31:01.839
with the very diamond that they had advertised
00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:08.539
for $55 ,000 in 1998, which today would be around
00:31:08.539 --> 00:31:15.339
$106 ,492. She gets on a plane to Philadelphia
00:31:15.339 --> 00:31:17.700
where someone recognizes her and she's arrested.
00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:20.440
About this, Doris wrote in her autobiography,
00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:31.849
quote, fucking Interpol, fucking internet. woman,
00:31:32.109 --> 00:31:34.670
man. She's an icon. I love her so much. She's
00:31:34.670 --> 00:31:37.829
great. She's something else. I know. She's my
00:31:37.829 --> 00:31:40.789
new hero. Right? My mom was like, she's my new
00:31:40.789 --> 00:31:45.710
hero. I know. Like, don't go do this, but if
00:31:45.710 --> 00:31:48.349
you're gonna do it, do it like she did it. Do
00:31:48.349 --> 00:31:52.589
it the Doris way, okay? So Doris was brought
00:31:52.589 --> 00:31:54.710
back to Denver where she's charged and convicted.
00:31:54.950 --> 00:31:57.109
She serves five years in prison, which is the
00:31:57.109 --> 00:31:59.890
longest stay in prison she's ever done. By this
00:31:59.890 --> 00:32:02.130
time, Doris is famous within the jewel community
00:32:02.130 --> 00:32:05.450
as well as the regular public. Media has caught
00:32:05.450 --> 00:32:08.230
wind of her life and there's a lot to write about
00:32:08.230 --> 00:32:11.230
when it comes to Doris. She made herself into
00:32:11.230 --> 00:32:14.910
the jewel thief expert. And according to the
00:32:14.910 --> 00:32:17.769
documentary about her, once she was released,
00:32:18.029 --> 00:32:20.589
store owners would have her come into their shops
00:32:20.589 --> 00:32:23.109
and show them how she did it in order to watch
00:32:23.109 --> 00:32:26.309
for thieves. Oh, wow. Like she's having a huge
00:32:26.309 --> 00:32:28.589
deal by the time she gets out of prison. And
00:32:28.589 --> 00:32:31.470
everyone everywhere wants to know and see Diamond
00:32:31.470 --> 00:32:34.190
Doris. So now we're going to jump ahead to 2011.
00:32:34.710 --> 00:32:38.809
To the world, Doris, at 81 years old with her
00:32:38.809 --> 00:32:41.029
white hair and frail appearance, looks like a
00:32:41.029 --> 00:32:45.349
sweet little old lady. But once again, she is
00:32:45.349 --> 00:32:49.130
found guilty of yet another store theft. And
00:32:49.130 --> 00:32:51.930
is sentenced to five years in a California prison.
00:32:53.049 --> 00:32:56.029
This time, Doris walked into a Macy's in San
00:32:56.029 --> 00:33:00.230
Diego and stole a ring listed at $8 ,900, which
00:33:00.230 --> 00:33:06.589
today in 2025 would be about $12 ,487. By this
00:33:06.589 --> 00:33:08.950
time that she had walked into the California
00:33:08.950 --> 00:33:11.750
mall, Doris had stolen an estimated amount of
00:33:11.750 --> 00:33:16.730
$2 million. And she said that she spent most
00:33:16.730 --> 00:33:19.009
of that. And she has went through most of her
00:33:19.009 --> 00:33:22.130
savings, her Shaker Heights home. was eventually
00:33:22.130 --> 00:33:25.450
foreclosed on. Doris, at this point in her life,
00:33:25.529 --> 00:33:28.490
she had 32 aliases, 11 social security numbers,
00:33:28.630 --> 00:33:33.849
and nine passports. Jesus. After her release,
00:33:34.089 --> 00:33:38.809
she is again arrested in 2016 at 86 years old
00:33:38.809 --> 00:33:42.970
for stealing a $2 ,000 bracelet. For this, she
00:33:42.970 --> 00:33:45.660
was given three years probation. Her last major
00:33:45.660 --> 00:33:49.099
brush with the law came in 2017 when she was
00:33:49.099 --> 00:33:51.400
caught in a Walmart parking lot for stealing
00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:58.299
$89 worth of goods. At Walmart? Yeah. Okay. In
00:33:58.299 --> 00:34:00.660
court, she promised the judge she wouldn't flee
00:34:00.660 --> 00:34:03.420
and would commit no further crimes, and so he
00:34:03.420 --> 00:34:06.720
released her. And since, she's had a few minor
00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:09.019
brushes with the law, but nothing major just
00:34:09.019 --> 00:34:12.119
as she had promised. Today, Doris is 95 years
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:14.920
old and a free woman. She has offered no advice
00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:17.539
to anyone that may be interested in doing what
00:34:17.539 --> 00:34:20.539
she did. She stated about her arrest that came
00:34:20.539 --> 00:34:23.300
from committing her series of crimes was that
00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:25.539
sometimes getting caught was part of the job.
00:34:29.860 --> 00:34:32.880
She would have been some fun to know. I know.
00:34:32.920 --> 00:34:34.579
I feel like we would have been best friends.
00:34:34.820 --> 00:34:40.159
I know. Still today, Doris is not sorry for the
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:44.769
theft she committed. As always, she remains unapologetic.
00:34:44.929 --> 00:34:47.530
And that is the story of the notorious jewel
00:34:47.530 --> 00:34:50.329
thief, Doris Payne, and her catch -me -if -you
00:34:50.329 --> 00:34:57.070
-can criminal career. I like that one. I love
00:34:57.070 --> 00:35:02.210
her so much. Yeah. She's awesome. So good. And
00:35:02.210 --> 00:35:06.989
she's smart. Yeah. Like, there are people nowadays
00:35:06.989 --> 00:35:10.570
that can't get away with walking. get arrested.
00:35:11.170 --> 00:35:14.130
Right. They can't walk out of Walmart with a
00:35:14.130 --> 00:35:18.289
tube of chapstick. This lady stole like over
00:35:18.289 --> 00:35:23.010
two million dollars for the jewelry. And escaped.
00:35:23.670 --> 00:35:27.590
Yeah. Escaped. What did I say? Three times? Yeah.
00:35:28.809 --> 00:35:32.110
She's my hero. She jumped out of a fucking train
00:35:32.110 --> 00:35:36.329
window. Oh God. Then the window of a hospital.
00:35:37.250 --> 00:35:41.039
That's hilarious. like this lady came straight
00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:45.099
out of the movie a shit you not oh she did oh
00:35:45.099 --> 00:35:49.199
so good that's a good one i like that one yep
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:51.360
i love that one uh where did i i don't remember
00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:57.260
where i heard this one at it's so good oh yep
00:35:57.260 --> 00:35:59.199
i was like i have to do that one because it's
00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:06.260
so good yeah i'm glad you did okay that was a
00:36:06.260 --> 00:36:10.159
short one but I felt like it was. Yeah, that
00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:14.699
was a good one. All right. Anything else before
00:36:14.699 --> 00:36:18.820
we sign off? No, I like that one. All right.
00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:23.460
Two more weeks, two more episodes. All right.
00:36:23.880 --> 00:36:26.500
The next one is a really good one too. Yep. Nice.
00:36:26.699 --> 00:36:29.099
And then the last episode, I think I'm going
00:36:29.099 --> 00:36:32.699
to do two women in it. Like I did last month.
00:36:33.239 --> 00:36:35.500
Cause I can't decide which, which one I want
00:36:35.500 --> 00:36:39.070
to do. Right. So I'm just going to do both. Nice.
00:36:39.349 --> 00:36:43.289
Because they're both so good. Right. All right.
00:36:43.630 --> 00:36:45.590
We'll be back next week for another episode,
00:36:45.809 --> 00:36:50.050
another woman to talk about. As always, our sources
00:36:50.050 --> 00:36:52.429
and photos for the episode can be found on the
00:36:52.429 --> 00:36:54.969
Facebook page. You can find that link in the
00:36:54.969 --> 00:36:57.670
episode description. Give us a rate and a review.
00:36:57.829 --> 00:36:59.869
Don't forget to subscribe so you get notifications
00:36:59.869 --> 00:37:03.269
when these new episodes air. We hope you keep
00:37:03.269 --> 00:37:06.599
listening and remember to... Watch for monsters.
00:37:07.219 --> 00:37:11.019
And don't kill people. Bye y 'all. Bye y 'all.
00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:15.019
Hey, y 'all. I'm Carrie. Hey, y 'all. I'm Mandy.
00:00:15.460 --> 00:00:27.179
And this is Monstrous. This episode contains
00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:29.359
topics and language that may not be suitable
00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.200
for all listeners and topics that may be triggering
00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:45.060
for some. Listener discretion is advised. Mandy.
00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:50.000
Yes. Are you ready for one hell of a story about
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.060
an extraordinary woman? Let's do it. So the one
00:00:55.060 --> 00:00:58.500
I've chosen for this week's Woman's History Month
00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:02.859
episode, she didn't create new laws or blaze
00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:06.599
a trail in a career for women to follow. But
00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:09.519
she did refuse to settle for an ordinary, boring
00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:13.939
life or the basics. This woman lived a life of
00:01:13.939 --> 00:01:18.359
crime that started from the 1960s all the way
00:01:18.359 --> 00:01:26.019
to 2017 when she was 87 years old. Damn. This
00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:29.280
is the story of the globe -trotting, notorious
00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:36.099
jewel thief, Doris Payne. Doris Payne, for me,
00:01:36.099 --> 00:01:38.560
is someone who manipulates people. That's her
00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:42.819
job. If you know the jewelry robbery world, she
00:01:42.819 --> 00:01:44.959
certainly would be in the Hall of Fame. Payne
00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:47.239
admits to stealing expensive diamonds from all
00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:49.859
around the world, including Paris, Monaco, and
00:01:49.859 --> 00:01:52.640
Tokyo. A notorious jewel thief struck again.
00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:55.359
She's so famous, her life story is about to become
00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:58.980
a movie starring Halle Berry. Doris is a protagonist
00:01:58.980 --> 00:02:02.280
and the antagonist in the screenplay that Doris
00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:05.859
Payne writes herself every day. Because I'm prepared
00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:10.180
to go on a campaign. I'm prepared. play the part
00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:13.979
of somebody else. I'd taken a ten and a half
00:02:13.979 --> 00:02:19.039
carry out of Monte Carlo. In Cartier? Wow. There's
00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:23.060
never been a day that I went to steal that I
00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:27.840
did not get what I went to do. When I go shopping
00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.599
with Doris, I tell her, if you take anything,
00:02:30.860 --> 00:02:34.219
let me know, and I'd say, put that back. She
00:02:34.219 --> 00:02:37.020
sees something she wants, she will go and get
00:02:37.020 --> 00:02:59.250
it. I just want you to watch what the jury is
00:02:59.250 --> 00:03:01.349
going to see. They want you to speak guilty to
00:03:01.349 --> 00:03:03.889
burglary. Take three years and stay present.
00:03:04.310 --> 00:03:07.139
Absolutely. This is a matter of people versus
00:03:07.139 --> 00:03:09.780
Doris Payne. I don't know exactly what I'm going
00:03:09.780 --> 00:03:14.080
to do right now to be persuaded. I don't have
00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:18.259
any regrets about stealing jewelry. I'm great
00:03:18.259 --> 00:03:23.659
at cook. Doris Payne was born in October of 1930
00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:28.039
in Slab Fork, West Virginia. This town was a
00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:30.939
big mining town, as most towns in that area were
00:03:30.939 --> 00:03:34.379
at the time. It being the 1930s, things were
00:03:34.379 --> 00:03:38.500
tough. But for Doris, it was even harder. Her
00:03:38.500 --> 00:03:40.639
father was black and her mother was a member
00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:43.860
of the Cherokee Nation. So we have the whole
00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:47.259
racist aspect going on. That definitely had an
00:03:47.259 --> 00:03:51.479
impact on Doris's life. She was the second youngest
00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:55.139
of six. She described her and her siblings as
00:03:55.139 --> 00:03:57.939
stair -step children, by which she meant that
00:03:57.939 --> 00:04:00.099
the age gap between each of them was about the
00:04:00.099 --> 00:04:03.699
same. Her father was a coal miner, of course,
00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:07.479
and... He was said to be pretty abusive to her
00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:11.900
mom, sometimes even violently beating her. Doris
00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:14.060
said about this, quote, It wasn't an everyday
00:04:14.060 --> 00:04:16.660
thing that my father beat my mother, but she
00:04:16.660 --> 00:04:19.660
was a prisoner. He didn't want her talking to
00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:23.100
any men, and he didn't want her talking and gossiping
00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:28.360
with other women. She further said, quote, So
00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:33.680
growing up, seeing this, Doris was determined
00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:37.519
to make sure that her life was not going to be
00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:40.879
isolated by a man. Which I feel like we can all
00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:45.399
get that. Yes. But what exactly was it that led
00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:49.680
Doris to become a jewel thief? Well, Doris was
00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:52.500
said to be a very bright and good student. And
00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:54.959
when she was 13, her mother had told her as a
00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:57.540
reward for getting straight A's that she was
00:04:57.540 --> 00:05:00.259
going to buy her a watch. So, Doris took her
00:05:00.259 --> 00:05:03.139
money and went down to a little general store
00:05:03.139 --> 00:05:06.319
in her town. Doris knew the owner, of course.
00:05:06.660 --> 00:05:08.959
And so, he shows her all the watches that he
00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:12.420
has. And, you know, he's nice to her. He always
00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:16.180
is. But then, another customer comes into the
00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:21.899
store. A white customer. This person begins to,
00:05:21.899 --> 00:05:24.759
you know, give Doris looks and treat her poorly.
00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:29.009
Even ignoring her. Practically. Ignoring her,
00:05:29.029 --> 00:05:30.949
just giving her, you know, dirty looks because
00:05:30.949 --> 00:05:35.050
she's not just a little kid. Anyway. So, of course,
00:05:35.069 --> 00:05:37.529
she gets really upset because she's only 13.
00:05:37.730 --> 00:05:40.550
The store owner does not comfort her. He doesn't
00:05:40.550 --> 00:05:43.050
defend her. Instead, he tries to hustle her out
00:05:43.050 --> 00:05:46.589
of the store. And in doing so, he forgets that
00:05:46.589 --> 00:05:48.769
Doris was wearing one of the watches that he
00:05:48.769 --> 00:05:52.910
had been showing her. Oh, shit. But she doesn't
00:05:52.910 --> 00:05:55.529
take it. She walks back into the store kind of
00:05:55.529 --> 00:05:58.410
like a fuck you kind of way. And tells the owner,
00:05:58.509 --> 00:06:01.329
you know, by the way, you forgot your watch.
00:06:02.490 --> 00:06:05.110
Kind of telling him, hey, you know, I could have
00:06:05.110 --> 00:06:07.470
just taken this. But instead I brought it back
00:06:07.470 --> 00:06:11.990
despite the way that you treated me. Right. So
00:06:11.990 --> 00:06:15.129
even though it was kind of a fuck you to the
00:06:15.129 --> 00:06:18.029
owner, because his behavior really hurt her.
00:06:18.069 --> 00:06:21.110
Because before this, the two had had a close
00:06:21.110 --> 00:06:24.149
relationship. She felt betrayed. She takes it
00:06:24.149 --> 00:06:27.009
further by describing this as the thing that
00:06:27.009 --> 00:06:30.069
had made her decision to, quote, go to war with
00:06:30.069 --> 00:06:33.110
jewelry salesmen. This one event is where things
00:06:33.110 --> 00:06:36.250
changed for Doris. So first she has to make sure
00:06:36.250 --> 00:06:38.850
that she can accomplish what she did by mistake
00:06:38.850 --> 00:06:41.889
on purpose. So she and a friend takes a bus to
00:06:41.889 --> 00:06:45.699
Cleveland and walks into Woolworths. Doris starts
00:06:45.699 --> 00:06:48.259
looking and trying on watches, makes friendly
00:06:48.259 --> 00:06:50.500
conversation with the salesman until he's forgotten
00:06:50.500 --> 00:06:53.500
how many watches he's taken out and let her try
00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:57.459
on. Then she and her friend walk off with a watch
00:06:57.459 --> 00:06:59.639
hidden inside of her glove. Since she's just
00:06:59.639 --> 00:07:01.560
testing things out and seeing how she can do
00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:04.220
it, she turns around and returns the watch. The
00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:06.040
man at the counter thanks her and the two girls
00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:09.019
leave. In her autobiography, Doris says, quote,
00:07:09.529 --> 00:07:11.670
When we got to the street, we ran and cackled
00:07:11.670 --> 00:07:14.149
like two witches who had stolen the heart out
00:07:14.149 --> 00:07:17.029
of the chest of the king's firstborn son. We
00:07:17.029 --> 00:07:19.209
were as high as we could be. We were secretly
00:07:19.209 --> 00:07:23.310
in control of the white man. Damn. Right? And
00:07:23.310 --> 00:07:26.430
this is exactly where Doris is going to get her
00:07:26.430 --> 00:07:28.470
power from. So we're going to skip forward to
00:07:28.470 --> 00:07:30.750
Doris and her teens. The abuse that her father
00:07:30.750 --> 00:07:33.050
gives her mother has now become more and more
00:07:33.050 --> 00:07:36.329
violent. Knowing that in order for her mother
00:07:36.329 --> 00:07:39.970
to escape her father, she needs money. And so
00:07:39.970 --> 00:07:43.910
Doris leans into her success as a jewel thief
00:07:43.910 --> 00:07:46.910
and steals a diamond that she then pawns and
00:07:46.910 --> 00:07:50.069
gives her mother the money. Together, Doris and
00:07:50.069 --> 00:07:52.069
her mother move to Cleveland while her father
00:07:52.069 --> 00:07:54.930
stays behind in Slab Fort. Doris then goes on
00:07:54.930 --> 00:07:57.709
to have two children, one at 18 and another at
00:07:57.709 --> 00:08:01.069
22. Unfortunately, though, their father had took
00:08:01.069 --> 00:08:03.589
custody and it doesn't really seem like Doris
00:08:03.589 --> 00:08:05.930
was really a part of their life until they were
00:08:05.930 --> 00:08:10.480
older for some reason. Doris's mother is a very
00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:13.199
talented seamstress, so she finds work doing
00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:15.560
this, while Doris finds work as a nurse in a
00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:19.360
nursing home there in Cleveland. They both find
00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:21.860
better lives and basically reinvent themselves
00:08:21.860 --> 00:08:25.740
there. A few years later, in the late 1950s,
00:08:25.740 --> 00:08:28.800
she isn't really stealing anything unless it's
00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:31.959
out of necessity. But one of her co -workers
00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:34.139
confides in her that her mother is in need of
00:08:34.139 --> 00:08:37.139
medication and she can't afford to pay for it.
00:08:37.980 --> 00:08:40.659
Doris comes up with a plan. On one of their lunch
00:08:40.659 --> 00:08:42.639
breaks, she and her friend go to a department
00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:45.379
store. Doris dresses her friend, who is white,
00:08:45.419 --> 00:08:47.139
in a beautiful dress that Doris' mother made,
00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:50.240
while she herself stays in her nursing uniform.
00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:53.580
She tells her friend to, quote, slump over a
00:08:53.580 --> 00:08:56.200
bit like one of those wavy Victorian heiresses.
00:08:56.539 --> 00:09:01.519
The way she talks, I love it. They tell the clerk
00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:03.919
that Doris' friend will soon be engaged and they're
00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:06.679
there to go ring shopping and that Doris is her
00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:10.669
nurse. Okay, so basically Doris' storyline is
00:09:10.669 --> 00:09:13.090
that her friend is an ill heiress who is set
00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:16.049
to marry a man who is no doubt only after her
00:09:16.049 --> 00:09:19.269
family's money, and it works. While the salesman
00:09:19.269 --> 00:09:21.850
is distracted, Doris slips a diamond wedding
00:09:21.850 --> 00:09:26.309
ring set into her pocket. The friend then swoons
00:09:26.309 --> 00:09:29.769
over, and Doris is all, oh my, she isn't feeling
00:09:29.769 --> 00:09:31.210
well, I've got to get her out of here. We'll
00:09:31.210 --> 00:09:32.850
just come back another day, and then they walk
00:09:32.850 --> 00:09:36.600
out of the store. Doris then pawns the ring set
00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:41.100
for $1 ,500. In today's money, that would be
00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:47.840
about $19 ,643. Oh, shit. She then gives her
00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:49.759
friend the money that she needs for her mother's
00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:53.000
medication. And Doris uses some of the profits
00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:56.299
to buy herself a new expensive handbag and a
00:09:56.299 --> 00:09:59.279
different diamond ring. So now, Doris looks like
00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.840
a wealthy married woman who has all the time
00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:03.879
in the world to walk around shopping in jewelry
00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:06.789
shops. And no one questions why she's there or
00:10:06.789 --> 00:10:09.490
even bats an eye at her. So basically, she used
00:10:09.490 --> 00:10:12.029
the money from her last step to create the costume
00:10:12.029 --> 00:10:14.929
so that way she didn't have to depend on anyone
00:10:14.929 --> 00:10:19.070
to pull this off. Then she quits her job at the
00:10:19.070 --> 00:10:22.549
nursing home. Now is when she hones in on her
00:10:22.549 --> 00:10:26.649
technique. So her method is this. First, she
00:10:26.649 --> 00:10:29.919
researches the piece that she wants. She does
00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:32.200
this by looking at ads in magazines like, you
00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:35.000
know, Town and Country, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue,
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:37.620
you know, all those. So she never walks into
00:10:37.620 --> 00:10:40.379
a jewelry store not knowing what she's going
00:10:40.379 --> 00:10:43.139
to take. This gives her an idea of how she should
00:10:43.139 --> 00:10:46.799
dress and act as well. She stakes out department
00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:49.480
stores and watches how the wealthy woman dress
00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:54.019
and act in order to match that persona. Doris
00:10:54.019 --> 00:10:56.500
said, quote, when I'm preparing to go on a campaign.
00:10:57.049 --> 00:10:59.529
I'm preparing to play the part of someone else.
00:10:59.730 --> 00:11:02.850
I'm camouflaging myself. You have to look your
00:11:02.850 --> 00:11:06.090
part. You have to look like you belong. I have
00:11:06.090 --> 00:11:08.490
to behave so well -bred that they would have
00:11:08.490 --> 00:11:12.090
no idea who I am. I'm sure that they don't see
00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:14.809
me as a Black American woman who just walked
00:11:14.809 --> 00:11:18.169
in. Once Doris feels like she's ready, she walks
00:11:18.169 --> 00:11:20.730
into the store, asks the clerk to view multiple
00:11:20.730 --> 00:11:24.110
pieces. Once each of the pieces are pulled out,
00:11:24.210 --> 00:11:27.230
Doris moves them around and tries them on. And
00:11:27.230 --> 00:11:29.710
she talks and asks questions about each one of
00:11:29.710 --> 00:11:33.990
the pieces, all of that. She's doing the whole
00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:36.889
like, look over here and not here thing. Kind
00:11:36.889 --> 00:11:40.649
of like the cup trick. You put something in a
00:11:40.649 --> 00:11:42.730
cup, you move it around. She's doing that whole
00:11:42.730 --> 00:11:46.070
thing. So she moves it all around, asks questions,
00:11:46.070 --> 00:11:48.809
distracts the clerk. So that way they can't remember
00:11:48.809 --> 00:11:51.529
exactly how many pieces were taken out to begin
00:11:51.529 --> 00:11:55.409
with. While the clerk is distracted, Doris takes
00:11:55.409 --> 00:11:58.029
a piece of the jewelry. Then once the clerk has
00:11:58.029 --> 00:12:01.090
refocused on her and what's going on, she's all
00:12:01.090 --> 00:12:02.929
like, oh no, where'd the other, you know, the
00:12:02.929 --> 00:12:05.230
other piece go? So then of course they start
00:12:05.230 --> 00:12:07.549
looking for it. And Doris is like, oh, here it
00:12:07.549 --> 00:12:10.370
is. Hands it to the clerk as if she had just
00:12:10.370 --> 00:12:13.009
found it. The clerk thanks her. He's grateful.
00:12:14.169 --> 00:12:16.409
And now believes that Doris is an honest and
00:12:16.409 --> 00:12:19.769
trustworthy woman. This causes the clerk to then
00:12:19.769 --> 00:12:22.629
relax and become friendlier and less uptight.
00:12:23.870 --> 00:12:26.289
This is when Doris takes the piece that she needs.
00:12:26.429 --> 00:12:30.669
actually want she's smart so doris does it in
00:12:30.669 --> 00:12:32.929
a way that the clerk is going you know because
00:12:32.929 --> 00:12:35.029
he's like oh well she found this missing piece
00:12:35.029 --> 00:12:36.649
why would she then turn around and steal another
00:12:36.649 --> 00:12:41.169
one you know so she also knew that she couldn't
00:12:41.169 --> 00:12:43.809
keep selling her stolen jewelry to pawn shops
00:12:43.809 --> 00:12:46.929
because they could only give her so much she
00:12:46.929 --> 00:12:49.570
would not get top dollar for her stolen bounty
00:12:49.570 --> 00:12:53.190
so through word of mouth doris had gotten in
00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:55.809
contact with a broker named harold braunfeld
00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:59.460
Harold was a Jewish nightclub owner known to
00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:02.759
everyone as Babe. He had connections in the jewelry
00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:05.279
industry and throughout the 60s, he and Doris
00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:08.120
were a team. She stole the pieces and he sold
00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:10.220
them. Using Babe's connections to actual jewel
00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:12.799
buyers, Doris was able to get top dollar for
00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:16.500
her pieces. Babe also advised Doris to not take
00:13:16.500 --> 00:13:19.039
anything that was too valuable because that would
00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:21.419
cause the piece to become too hot of an item
00:13:21.419 --> 00:13:24.990
to sell. The years that Doris spent working with
00:13:24.990 --> 00:13:27.429
Babe were both informative and very profitable.
00:13:27.789 --> 00:13:30.029
So sometime during their partnership, Doris headed
00:13:30.029 --> 00:13:35.110
out to L .A. Babe spent that time flying to L
00:13:35.110 --> 00:13:37.409
.A. to collect the items from Doris that she
00:13:37.409 --> 00:13:39.490
had stolen, then flying back to Cleveland to
00:13:39.490 --> 00:13:42.870
sell those pieces. So while in L .A., Doris got
00:13:42.870 --> 00:13:47.309
her hands on some pretty pricey pieces. One day,
00:13:47.309 --> 00:13:50.250
she visits a Rodeo Drive boutique where she steals
00:13:50.250 --> 00:13:53.389
two diamond rings. which at the time were worth
00:13:53.389 --> 00:14:00.470
$20 ,000. Wow. Today, those rings would be worth
00:14:00.470 --> 00:14:06.230
about $213 ,000. Holy shit. Could you imagine
00:14:06.230 --> 00:14:10.149
that much money just basically being handed to
00:14:10.149 --> 00:14:14.250
you? That's insane. And then remember, Babe had
00:14:14.250 --> 00:14:16.250
told Doris not to take anything too valuable,
00:14:16.409 --> 00:14:18.789
so those two rings weren't even the most expensive
00:14:18.789 --> 00:14:23.820
pieces. Right. So Doris does eventually return
00:14:23.820 --> 00:14:27.019
to Cleveland. And when she does, she sold everything
00:14:27.019 --> 00:14:29.899
she had stolen in L .A. to an amount that she
00:14:29.899 --> 00:14:33.259
was able to afford to buy a home in the pretty
00:14:33.259 --> 00:14:36.539
high -priced suburb area of Shaker Heights, which
00:14:36.539 --> 00:14:40.279
is in Cleveland. It's basically like a suburb
00:14:40.279 --> 00:14:44.360
inside Cleveland. The home cost was the exact
00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:46.700
amount that she had gotten from those two rings
00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:49.820
in L .A. alone. Wow. She didn't want to advertise
00:14:49.820 --> 00:14:52.049
that she had that kind of money. for obvious
00:14:52.049 --> 00:14:56.250
reasons. Yeah. So she got a normal mortgage,
00:14:56.470 --> 00:14:59.169
but for Doris, who was a black woman in the 90s,
00:14:59.169 --> 00:15:03.289
this wasn't an easy thing to accomplish. In the
00:15:03.289 --> 00:15:05.669
end, Doris, again, had sought out the help of
00:15:05.669 --> 00:15:08.070
her partner, Babe, who had actually sold some
00:15:08.070 --> 00:15:12.629
of Doris' pieces to a bank manager. So I'm not
00:15:12.629 --> 00:15:16.490
exactly sure what Babe does or does not say to
00:15:16.490 --> 00:15:18.490
this bank manager, because obviously, who's going
00:15:18.490 --> 00:15:21.779
to admit to a bribe? Mm -hmm. But after whatever
00:15:21.779 --> 00:15:24.600
they did or did not do, this guy approves Doris
00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:27.340
for a mortgage. It's kind of one of those, you
00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:30.360
know, friends in high places things. So what
00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:32.919
I haven't told you yet is that Doris up to this
00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:36.279
point has been arrested a few times. But like
00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:38.519
the rest of her life, throughout the rest of
00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:42.460
her story, her charges are either dropped or
00:15:42.460 --> 00:15:44.779
she's given short sentences. Because even though
00:15:44.779 --> 00:15:49.580
they know she's the thief, not one time at all.
00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:55.259
Does any authority find any stolen diamonds on
00:15:55.259 --> 00:15:59.639
Doris? How do they not find it? I will tell you
00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:02.100
about one case where they don't find it. Here
00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:06.100
in just a little bit. Okay. Okay. So at some
00:16:06.100 --> 00:16:08.440
point, Doris went on to meet a man named Kenneth.
00:16:08.659 --> 00:16:11.440
And the two were immediately smitten with each
00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:13.840
other. And they began a serious relationship.
00:16:14.019 --> 00:16:17.580
This new relationship had caused the one between
00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:21.539
Doris and Babe with sour. He had apparently become
00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:24.480
very jealous, even though he was married to a
00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:27.960
woman that was not Doris. So I don't know if
00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:29.279
there was something going on between the two
00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:32.360
of them or not. But for whatever reason, he ended
00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:36.159
up jealous and they kind of cut ties. And then
00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:39.120
shortly after that, they dies. Doris and Kenneth
00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:42.539
go on to have a long term relationship. Kenneth
00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:45.059
is very much aware of the life that Doris leads,
00:16:45.139 --> 00:16:48.840
but he never got involved in it in any way. He
00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:50.480
just kind of waits for her to come back to Cleveland
00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:53.399
while she goes and travels the country and eventually
00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:57.940
the world. So as a side note here, I love this.
00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:02.179
Love it. So the trips that Doris goes on when
00:17:02.179 --> 00:17:04.259
she sells these jewels, they can really be called
00:17:04.259 --> 00:17:06.480
anything, but most people call them jobs, right?
00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:15.779
Doris calls hers her campaigns. I love that so
00:17:15.779 --> 00:17:22.880
much. Her campaigns. Yeah. Okay, so by the early
00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:29.039
70s, Doris is about 40, and the jig is up. The
00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:31.859
Jewelers Security Alliance, which is a trade
00:17:31.859 --> 00:17:35.039
group, is now on to Doris and sends out a bulletin
00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:38.400
to be on the lookout to other jewelers that gives
00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:43.000
a description of Doris and tells them of her
00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:45.920
technique. So Doris decides here that it's time
00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:49.210
for her to see Europe. So she hits the road.
00:17:50.849 --> 00:17:54.250
So one would think that Doris, now in her 40s
00:17:54.250 --> 00:17:56.069
and having to leave her country, she would give
00:17:56.069 --> 00:17:59.710
up her life of crime for her jolly ways to rest
00:17:59.710 --> 00:18:02.630
and live a normal, quiet life, right? You would
00:18:02.630 --> 00:18:06.230
think. Well, that one would be wrong. On one
00:18:06.230 --> 00:18:09.430
campaign in Europe, Doris had, quote, a field
00:18:09.430 --> 00:18:12.990
day in a jewelry store in Zurich. Then she went
00:18:12.990 --> 00:18:16.250
back to her hotel where she laid low until night
00:18:16.250 --> 00:18:18.769
fell. She's getting ready to cross the border
00:18:18.769 --> 00:18:22.190
into France, but she first decides she's going
00:18:22.190 --> 00:18:28.710
to go dancing. So she's out here, you know, dancing,
00:18:28.769 --> 00:18:30.549
having a good old time at this nightclub, right?
00:18:31.509 --> 00:18:34.809
What Doris doesn't know is that while she's out
00:18:34.809 --> 00:18:37.849
here enjoying herself, this nightclub has cameras.
00:18:38.630 --> 00:18:41.930
Cameras that are being broadcast onto Swiss TV.
00:18:45.900 --> 00:18:49.279
So last call rolls around. The lights come on.
00:18:49.859 --> 00:18:53.059
Police have filled the nightclub there to arrest
00:18:53.059 --> 00:18:58.500
Doris. Someone had seen and identified her. But
00:18:58.500 --> 00:19:01.859
it wasn't just anyone. Sitting at home with his
00:19:01.859 --> 00:19:04.059
wife, watching the club on TV was a policeman.
00:19:04.220 --> 00:19:06.259
Like, first of all, who the fuck just sits at
00:19:06.259 --> 00:19:10.579
home watching people dance in a nightclub live
00:19:10.579 --> 00:19:19.369
feed? For fun. Who does that? Okay, anyway. Sitting
00:19:19.369 --> 00:19:21.230
at home with his wife, watching the club on TV
00:19:21.230 --> 00:19:24.069
was a policeman who was working the jewelry store
00:19:24.069 --> 00:19:26.849
robbery case. And who did he see come across
00:19:26.849 --> 00:19:30.089
his TV screen? None other than the woman they
00:19:30.089 --> 00:19:33.650
were looking for, Doris Payne herself. Even if
00:19:33.650 --> 00:19:36.410
they didn't yet know her name. According to Doris,
00:19:36.410 --> 00:19:38.390
the police then put her on a train to Geneva,
00:19:38.589 --> 00:19:40.809
where more policemen were waiting for her to
00:19:40.809 --> 00:19:45.029
arrive. Okay. So they put Doris on this train
00:19:45.029 --> 00:19:49.210
by herself to Geneva. No policemen escorted her.
00:19:49.750 --> 00:19:52.029
They did this because the train was supposed
00:19:52.029 --> 00:19:56.430
to be a non -stop train straight to Geneva. But
00:19:56.430 --> 00:19:59.130
the train did stop briefly to load some water.
00:19:59.369 --> 00:20:03.609
And what does Doris do? She escapes. She nopes
00:20:03.609 --> 00:20:07.150
right the fuck out of there. She jumps right
00:20:07.150 --> 00:20:10.490
out of the train window. She jumps out of the
00:20:10.490 --> 00:20:13.150
train window. Runs through farmland and woods.
00:20:13.369 --> 00:20:15.970
Then flags down a car and hitches a ride out
00:20:15.970 --> 00:20:18.509
of Switzerland. Like, this fucking lady is iconic,
00:20:18.809 --> 00:20:22.789
dude. She really is. I want to be her when I
00:20:22.789 --> 00:20:29.650
grow up. No. Okay, so, of course, everyone, you
00:20:29.650 --> 00:20:32.750
know, don't go out and be a jewel thief. But
00:20:32.750 --> 00:20:35.990
if you're gonna do it, do it like Doris did it.
00:20:36.049 --> 00:20:38.490
Because this lady went on the fucking adventure
00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:41.759
of a lifetime. And we're nowhere even near done
00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:45.559
with her story. Like we need better role models.
00:20:45.619 --> 00:20:49.660
Okay. For sure. I'm no exception on that, but
00:20:49.660 --> 00:20:53.819
I feel like she's my new role model. Yeah. She's
00:20:53.819 --> 00:21:00.839
good. Okay. Anyway. So now we're in 1974 and
00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:04.099
Doris is in Monte Carlo. She's now 44 years old
00:21:04.099 --> 00:21:09.369
and she's in her prime. She's checked into the
00:21:09.369 --> 00:21:12.869
Hotel de Paris, where she had told people that
00:21:12.869 --> 00:21:15.589
she was the wife of the famous director Otto
00:21:15.589 --> 00:21:19.750
Preminger. This guy was married, but his wife
00:21:19.750 --> 00:21:23.430
wasn't famous. So this lie was easy for her to
00:21:23.430 --> 00:21:26.329
pull off because no one knew who this guy's wife
00:21:26.329 --> 00:21:29.730
was. So as normal, she dresses to fit the part.
00:21:29.829 --> 00:21:33.509
She walks into a Cartier store. She sits down
00:21:33.509 --> 00:21:36.190
with a salesman. He brings out a large section
00:21:36.190 --> 00:21:39.670
of rings all displayed on a velvet tray. So you
00:21:39.670 --> 00:21:42.210
know this place is fancy. This salesman then
00:21:42.210 --> 00:21:45.609
walks away to greet other customers. Doris stands
00:21:45.609 --> 00:21:49.049
up. She walks out of the store with a ring in
00:21:49.049 --> 00:21:52.210
her hand. Doris has just completed the biggest
00:21:52.210 --> 00:21:54.769
heist of her career. Are you ready to hear the
00:21:54.769 --> 00:21:57.869
size and the price of this ring? Let me hear
00:21:57.869 --> 00:22:02.089
it. She walked out of that store with a ten and
00:22:02.089 --> 00:22:06.480
a half carat diamond ring. with a price tag of
00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:13.940
$550 ,000. Oh my God. Today, that ring would
00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:23.819
be $3 ,520 ,948. Could you imagine? She walked
00:22:23.819 --> 00:22:26.460
out of that fucking jewelry store in Monte Carlo
00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:31.640
with a $3 .5 million ring. That's fucking insane.
00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:34.619
That's crazy. I cannot tell you what the fuck
00:22:34.619 --> 00:22:36.740
I would do with that amount of money. Right?
00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:42.180
I would be good. My house. I wouldn't have a
00:22:42.180 --> 00:22:49.079
mortgage. Right. Okay. So, like I said before,
00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:51.900
this was the biggest heist Doris had ever pulled
00:22:51.900 --> 00:22:55.220
off. And once she took the ring, she didn't realize
00:22:55.220 --> 00:22:58.859
just how much it was. She just took it. Doris
00:22:58.859 --> 00:23:00.940
later said in an interview that once she learned
00:23:00.940 --> 00:23:03.900
the value of that ring, she knew that she shouldn't
00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:08.460
have taken it. But the value of that ring was
00:23:08.460 --> 00:23:11.440
not her only mistake. She had made three other
00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:14.920
mistakes that day. Her first was she took the
00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:17.059
ring when there was only one other person in
00:23:17.059 --> 00:23:19.920
the store. So it's very obvious that she's the
00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:24.000
one that took it. Right. Her second. mistake
00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:26.279
was that she didn't change clothes before she
00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:29.440
left her hotel for the airport, which would have
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:33.759
made finding her harder. And her last mistake
00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.119
was that instead of taking the first available
00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:39.099
flight out of the country, she waited for a flight
00:23:39.099 --> 00:23:42.640
to New York. So while Doris is sitting at the
00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:44.740
airport waiting for her flight, she's approached
00:23:44.740 --> 00:23:47.339
by custom agents who want to search her for the
00:23:47.339 --> 00:23:52.109
ring. All right, girl. are you ready for something
00:23:52.109 --> 00:23:56.190
straight out of a fucking movie? Yes. And it,
00:23:56.230 --> 00:23:59.349
like, it does not seem real at all, but I promise
00:23:59.349 --> 00:24:02.029
you it is. So this massive ring is in the pocket
00:24:02.029 --> 00:24:04.190
of her coat when these agents approach her, right?
00:24:04.430 --> 00:24:07.529
Mm -hmm. She gets up and she follows them towards
00:24:07.529 --> 00:24:10.750
a room. While on the way, she grabs a tissue,
00:24:10.910 --> 00:24:14.450
puts her hands inside her pockets, and puts the
00:24:14.450 --> 00:24:18.369
ring inside the tissue. Smart. Then she holds
00:24:18.369 --> 00:24:21.079
the tissue up to her face. blows her nose which
00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:24.539
is when she slips the ring into her mouth they
00:24:24.539 --> 00:24:27.519
get to a private room the police frisk her and
00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:29.779
they don't find the ring anywhere doris goes
00:24:29.779 --> 00:24:31.980
into a coughing fit covering her mouth naturally
00:24:31.980 --> 00:24:35.000
she then placed the used tissue into her boot
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:37.079
because where else is she gonna put it right
00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:40.259
they know that doris sold the ring but they can't
00:24:40.259 --> 00:24:43.819
find it they arrest her anyway And since there's
00:24:43.819 --> 00:24:45.859
no women's jail in Monte Carlo, they take her
00:24:45.859 --> 00:24:48.500
to a hotel that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:51.500
While she waits for her legal proceedings to
00:24:51.500 --> 00:24:54.140
begin, she then asks one of the guards outside
00:24:54.140 --> 00:24:56.039
of her room for a pair of nail clippers and a
00:24:56.039 --> 00:24:59.859
sewing kit, which they bring to her. So why the
00:24:59.859 --> 00:25:01.819
fuck does she need this stuff? And where the
00:25:01.819 --> 00:25:05.299
hell is the ring? It's a ten and a half carat
00:25:05.299 --> 00:25:07.019
ring. What the fuck did she do with it, right?
00:25:08.779 --> 00:25:11.319
Once she's in the room and she has her nail clippers
00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:13.940
and sewing kit, she reaches into her boot, pulls
00:25:13.940 --> 00:25:17.000
out the used tissue, which contains the ring.
00:25:17.500 --> 00:25:19.859
Doris uses the clippers to remove the diamond
00:25:19.859 --> 00:25:22.519
from the ring setting. Once the diamond is out,
00:25:22.579 --> 00:25:25.240
she steps out onto the balcony and throws the
00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:28.660
setting into the seat. Then she sews the diamond
00:25:28.660 --> 00:25:31.460
into her girdle. Doris wears this girdle for
00:25:31.460 --> 00:25:34.039
months. Even after it's been washed and it's
00:25:34.039 --> 00:25:36.700
wet, she wears it. Like, she ain't taking no
00:25:36.700 --> 00:25:41.420
chances on losing this fucking ring. Right. Police
00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:44.539
never find the diamond. That's insane. That's
00:25:44.539 --> 00:25:48.079
crazy. Despite this, Doris is convicted and sentenced
00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.680
to three years. She's held in a low -security
00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:53.299
prison, which she later said was more like a
00:25:53.299 --> 00:25:58.200
bed and breakfast than it was a prison. This
00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:02.180
prison was located in the hills of Monaco. So
00:26:02.180 --> 00:26:03.880
even though this sounds like someone's dream
00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:06.559
vacation, minus the, you know, not being allowed
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:10.400
to leave part. Doris takes the first opportunity
00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:13.180
she gets to escape. After about nine months,
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:17.519
Doris fakes a stomach virus that gets her a trip
00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:19.940
to a nearby hospital. At the hospital, she keeps
00:26:19.940 --> 00:26:22.960
up the act and then a kind of nun sent her to
00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:25.279
the bathroom where she jumps out of the fucking
00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:32.019
window. She gets into a cab. goes to France,
00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:34.480
gets a fake passport, and flies to New York.
00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:37.140
She gets back to New York, finds a buyer for
00:26:37.140 --> 00:26:39.960
the diamond that she stole in Monte Carlo on
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:44.740
47th Street. This buyer paid her $150 ,000 for
00:26:44.740 --> 00:26:50.660
the diamond, which is around $879 ,939 today.
00:26:50.839 --> 00:26:52.900
And remember, this is just the diamond, not the
00:26:52.900 --> 00:26:55.059
setting, because she threw it in the ocean. Right.
00:26:56.839 --> 00:27:00.470
She's smart. Right. So over the next two decades,
00:27:00.809 --> 00:27:04.349
Doris would go on to be arrested many times in
00:27:04.349 --> 00:27:07.150
both the U .S. and other countries, including
00:27:07.150 --> 00:27:13.190
Greece, France, Britain, Switzerland. But she
00:27:13.190 --> 00:27:16.289
gets away with more campaigns than she has caught.
00:27:16.970 --> 00:27:19.589
And she's never caught with what she was accused
00:27:19.589 --> 00:27:22.190
of stealing. Not one time. Because they don't
00:27:22.190 --> 00:27:27.470
check her. They have her Google. Or her mouth.
00:27:28.059 --> 00:27:32.119
Right. She often travels under an alias with
00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:36.359
fake passports. She once traveled to Tokyo, stealing
00:27:36.359 --> 00:27:40.920
jewelry from a Cartier store. Then while in her
00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:44.420
50s, she heads to Athens, where she steals from
00:27:44.420 --> 00:27:47.740
smaller shops in the tourist district. And then
00:27:47.740 --> 00:27:52.710
she sells what she's stolen in Amsterdam. Doris
00:27:52.710 --> 00:27:55.049
goes on to be arrested about 20 times in countries
00:27:55.049 --> 00:27:57.829
outside the U .S., using fake names and aliases
00:27:57.829 --> 00:28:01.309
to get around, like I said. So when Doris is
00:28:01.309 --> 00:28:04.450
52, she was again arrested in San Francisco this
00:28:04.450 --> 00:28:07.549
time. And it turns out she was wanted in multiple
00:28:07.549 --> 00:28:11.049
states and even wanted for federal charges. Oh,
00:28:11.049 --> 00:28:16.829
shit. Damn. She's brought to Fort Worth, Texas.
00:28:17.259 --> 00:28:20.400
Where she escapes from U .S. Marshals in a similar
00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:24.339
way to how she escaped a Monte Carlo. By first
00:28:24.339 --> 00:28:26.680
being admitted to a hospital and then simply
00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:32.039
walking out. U .S. Marshals weren't too bright,
00:28:32.140 --> 00:28:38.259
were they? Damn, she's smart as hell. Doris was
00:28:38.259 --> 00:28:40.240
a very beautiful woman. Like, she really was.
00:28:40.359 --> 00:28:43.869
And I think that threw everyone off. Yeah. Because,
00:28:43.869 --> 00:28:45.890
you know, how could such a beautiful woman in
00:28:45.890 --> 00:28:48.930
her prime do all of these horrible things? Right.
00:28:49.549 --> 00:28:52.470
And the older Doris got, in my opinion, the more
00:28:52.470 --> 00:28:56.369
beautiful she got because her hair turns white,
00:28:56.490 --> 00:28:59.589
not gray. You know, she's a very she's petite.
00:29:01.609 --> 00:29:04.329
So over time, she became a beautiful, dignified
00:29:04.329 --> 00:29:08.549
and well -spoken woman. Right. So, like I said,
00:29:08.609 --> 00:29:10.230
it's one of those things where people are like,
00:29:10.349 --> 00:29:12.380
there's no way. She could never do that. You
00:29:12.380 --> 00:29:16.200
know, look at her. So at the time that she walks
00:29:16.200 --> 00:29:18.519
away from her arrest in Fort Worth, she was also
00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.619
wanted for questioning in Geneva in connection
00:29:21.619 --> 00:29:24.500
with the disappearance of an emerald, which in
00:29:24.500 --> 00:29:33.500
1982 was worth 90 ,000 Swiss francs or 182 ,724
00:29:33.500 --> 00:29:40.299
U .S. dollars, which would amount. to $597 ,602
00:29:40.299 --> 00:29:46.880
today. Damn. As always, after this escape, Doris
00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.299
returned to Cleveland, where her mom and her
00:29:49.299 --> 00:29:53.799
boyfriend, Kenneth, were. Tragedy would strike
00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:57.579
Doris. She lost her mom, Kenneth, and then her
00:29:57.579 --> 00:30:01.559
best friend to cancer. And this all set off a
00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:04.759
very intense 13 -year spree of thefts for her.
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:08.400
She racks up more arrests and does more short
00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:10.599
stints in jail with more parole and probation
00:30:10.599 --> 00:30:16.160
violations as well. In 1998, Doris is 77 years
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:19.720
old. She's older than Mama Annette Debbie at
00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:22.460
this point, okay? Like, she's almost as old as
00:30:22.460 --> 00:30:27.700
my great -grandma. Like, can you imagine? So,
00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:30.339
like, picture Mama a decade older out here just
00:30:30.339 --> 00:30:36.819
doing this shit. Right. It's great. So she goes
00:30:36.819 --> 00:30:39.599
flipping through an issue of Harbors Bazaar,
00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:42.500
which is a magazine. She sees an ad for a large
00:30:42.500 --> 00:30:46.079
square cut diamond, which is located at Neiman
00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:49.460
Marcus Mall in Denver. And she says, quote, I
00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:54.460
was on a plane before you could say boo. I love
00:30:54.460 --> 00:30:59.619
this woman so much. Doris walks out of the store
00:30:59.619 --> 00:31:01.839
with the very diamond that they had advertised
00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:08.539
for $55 ,000 in 1998, which today would be around
00:31:08.539 --> 00:31:15.339
$106 ,492. She gets on a plane to Philadelphia
00:31:15.339 --> 00:31:17.700
where someone recognizes her and she's arrested.
00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:20.440
About this, Doris wrote in her autobiography,
00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:31.849
quote, fucking Interpol, fucking internet. woman,
00:31:32.109 --> 00:31:34.670
man. She's an icon. I love her so much. She's
00:31:34.670 --> 00:31:37.829
great. She's something else. I know. She's my
00:31:37.829 --> 00:31:40.789
new hero. Right? My mom was like, she's my new
00:31:40.789 --> 00:31:45.710
hero. I know. Like, don't go do this, but if
00:31:45.710 --> 00:31:48.349
you're gonna do it, do it like she did it. Do
00:31:48.349 --> 00:31:52.589
it the Doris way, okay? So Doris was brought
00:31:52.589 --> 00:31:54.710
back to Denver where she's charged and convicted.
00:31:54.950 --> 00:31:57.109
She serves five years in prison, which is the
00:31:57.109 --> 00:31:59.890
longest stay in prison she's ever done. By this
00:31:59.890 --> 00:32:02.130
time, Doris is famous within the jewel community
00:32:02.130 --> 00:32:05.450
as well as the regular public. Media has caught
00:32:05.450 --> 00:32:08.230
wind of her life and there's a lot to write about
00:32:08.230 --> 00:32:11.230
when it comes to Doris. She made herself into
00:32:11.230 --> 00:32:14.910
the jewel thief expert. And according to the
00:32:14.910 --> 00:32:17.769
documentary about her, once she was released,
00:32:18.029 --> 00:32:20.589
store owners would have her come into their shops
00:32:20.589 --> 00:32:23.109
and show them how she did it in order to watch
00:32:23.109 --> 00:32:26.309
for thieves. Oh, wow. Like she's having a huge
00:32:26.309 --> 00:32:28.589
deal by the time she gets out of prison. And
00:32:28.589 --> 00:32:31.470
everyone everywhere wants to know and see Diamond
00:32:31.470 --> 00:32:34.190
Doris. So now we're going to jump ahead to 2011.
00:32:34.710 --> 00:32:38.809
To the world, Doris, at 81 years old with her
00:32:38.809 --> 00:32:41.029
white hair and frail appearance, looks like a
00:32:41.029 --> 00:32:45.349
sweet little old lady. But once again, she is
00:32:45.349 --> 00:32:49.130
found guilty of yet another store theft. And
00:32:49.130 --> 00:32:51.930
is sentenced to five years in a California prison.
00:32:53.049 --> 00:32:56.029
This time, Doris walked into a Macy's in San
00:32:56.029 --> 00:33:00.230
Diego and stole a ring listed at $8 ,900, which
00:33:00.230 --> 00:33:06.589
today in 2025 would be about $12 ,487. By this
00:33:06.589 --> 00:33:08.950
time that she had walked into the California
00:33:08.950 --> 00:33:11.750
mall, Doris had stolen an estimated amount of
00:33:11.750 --> 00:33:16.730
$2 million. And she said that she spent most
00:33:16.730 --> 00:33:19.009
of that. And she has went through most of her
00:33:19.009 --> 00:33:22.130
savings, her Shaker Heights home. was eventually
00:33:22.130 --> 00:33:25.450
foreclosed on. Doris, at this point in her life,
00:33:25.529 --> 00:33:28.490
she had 32 aliases, 11 social security numbers,
00:33:28.630 --> 00:33:33.849
and nine passports. Jesus. After her release,
00:33:34.089 --> 00:33:38.809
she is again arrested in 2016 at 86 years old
00:33:38.809 --> 00:33:42.970
for stealing a $2 ,000 bracelet. For this, she
00:33:42.970 --> 00:33:45.660
was given three years probation. Her last major
00:33:45.660 --> 00:33:49.099
brush with the law came in 2017 when she was
00:33:49.099 --> 00:33:51.400
caught in a Walmart parking lot for stealing
00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:58.299
$89 worth of goods. At Walmart? Yeah. Okay. In
00:33:58.299 --> 00:34:00.660
court, she promised the judge she wouldn't flee
00:34:00.660 --> 00:34:03.420
and would commit no further crimes, and so he
00:34:03.420 --> 00:34:06.720
released her. And since, she's had a few minor
00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:09.019
brushes with the law, but nothing major just
00:34:09.019 --> 00:34:12.119
as she had promised. Today, Doris is 95 years
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:14.920
old and a free woman. She has offered no advice
00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:17.539
to anyone that may be interested in doing what
00:34:17.539 --> 00:34:20.539
she did. She stated about her arrest that came
00:34:20.539 --> 00:34:23.300
from committing her series of crimes was that
00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:25.539
sometimes getting caught was part of the job.
00:34:29.860 --> 00:34:32.880
She would have been some fun to know. I know.
00:34:32.920 --> 00:34:34.579
I feel like we would have been best friends.
00:34:34.820 --> 00:34:40.159
I know. Still today, Doris is not sorry for the
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:44.769
theft she committed. As always, she remains unapologetic.
00:34:44.929 --> 00:34:47.530
And that is the story of the notorious jewel
00:34:47.530 --> 00:34:50.329
thief, Doris Payne, and her catch -me -if -you
00:34:50.329 --> 00:34:57.070
-can criminal career. I like that one. I love
00:34:57.070 --> 00:35:02.210
her so much. Yeah. She's awesome. So good. And
00:35:02.210 --> 00:35:06.989
she's smart. Yeah. Like, there are people nowadays
00:35:06.989 --> 00:35:10.570
that can't get away with walking. get arrested.
00:35:11.170 --> 00:35:14.130
Right. They can't walk out of Walmart with a
00:35:14.130 --> 00:35:18.289
tube of chapstick. This lady stole like over
00:35:18.289 --> 00:35:23.010
two million dollars for the jewelry. And escaped.
00:35:23.670 --> 00:35:27.590
Yeah. Escaped. What did I say? Three times? Yeah.
00:35:28.809 --> 00:35:32.110
She's my hero. She jumped out of a fucking train
00:35:32.110 --> 00:35:36.329
window. Oh God. Then the window of a hospital.
00:35:37.250 --> 00:35:41.039
That's hilarious. like this lady came straight
00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:45.099
out of the movie a shit you not oh she did oh
00:35:45.099 --> 00:35:49.199
so good that's a good one i like that one yep
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:51.360
i love that one uh where did i i don't remember
00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:57.260
where i heard this one at it's so good oh yep
00:35:57.260 --> 00:35:59.199
i was like i have to do that one because it's
00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:06.260
so good yeah i'm glad you did okay that was a
00:36:06.260 --> 00:36:10.159
short one but I felt like it was. Yeah, that
00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:14.699
was a good one. All right. Anything else before
00:36:14.699 --> 00:36:18.820
we sign off? No, I like that one. All right.
00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:23.460
Two more weeks, two more episodes. All right.
00:36:23.880 --> 00:36:26.500
The next one is a really good one too. Yep. Nice.
00:36:26.699 --> 00:36:29.099
And then the last episode, I think I'm going
00:36:29.099 --> 00:36:32.699
to do two women in it. Like I did last month.
00:36:33.239 --> 00:36:35.500
Cause I can't decide which, which one I want
00:36:35.500 --> 00:36:39.070
to do. Right. So I'm just going to do both. Nice.
00:36:39.349 --> 00:36:43.289
Because they're both so good. Right. All right.
00:36:43.630 --> 00:36:45.590
We'll be back next week for another episode,
00:36:45.809 --> 00:36:50.050
another woman to talk about. As always, our sources
00:36:50.050 --> 00:36:52.429
and photos for the episode can be found on the
00:36:52.429 --> 00:36:54.969
Facebook page. You can find that link in the
00:36:54.969 --> 00:36:57.670
episode description. Give us a rate and a review.
00:36:57.829 --> 00:36:59.869
Don't forget to subscribe so you get notifications
00:36:59.869 --> 00:37:03.269
when these new episodes air. We hope you keep
00:37:03.269 --> 00:37:06.599
listening and remember to... Watch for monsters.
00:37:07.219 --> 00:37:11.019
And don't kill people. Bye y 'all. Bye y 'all.
